From zero to 5:1.

A volleyball court is 18 metres long and 9 metres wide. The net splits it into two halves. Each half is a square of 9 by 9 metres. That's your home.

3 metres from the net is the attack line. The area in front of it is called the front zone, the rest is the back zone. Each team has six players on the court.

Each of the six spots has a number: 1 to 6. You count from the back right, anticlockwise.

Remember: Position 1 serves. Whoever is at the back right right now serves.

At the front are 4, 3 and 2. They may block at the net and attack above net height.

At the back are 5, 6 and 1. Back-row players may not block. They can only attack above net height if they jump from behind the attack line.

At the moment of the serve, everyone has to stand correctly in relation to their neighbours. This is called the rotation order. The dotted lines show who has to watch whom.

• The front player is closer to the net than the partner behind: 4 in front of 5, 3 in front of 6, 2 in front of 1.
• In each row the order from left to right stays the same: 4, 3, 2 and 5, 6, 1.

If you don't stick to it, you make an overlap fault and the other team gets the point. But as soon as the serve has been hit, everyone may run anywhere.

If you win a point while the other team was serving, you get the serve. Then you all move on one position, clockwise:

2 → 1 → 6 → 5 → 4 → 3 → 2

Important: the number belongs to the spot, not to you. You move through all six spots. After six rotations you are back where you started.

In the 5:1 everyone has a fixed job. The numbers give it away: 5 attackers and 1 setter.

• SSetter: plays the second ball so the others can attack. The playmaker.
• OOpposite: attacks mostly on the right and always stands opposite the setter.
• OHOutside hitters (2×): receive the serve and usually attack on the left.
• MMiddles (2×): block in the middle and attack fast.
• LLibero: defence specialist with a different shirt. Only plays at the back and usually comes in there for a middle.

Players who belong together stand opposite each other, always three spots apart.

K1 means Complex 1. It covers everything that happens when the other team serves and the ball comes to you:

Pass → Set → Attack

Usually only three players line up to receive: the libero and the two outside hitters. The others hide at the net or behind them so the ball goes to the passing specialists. If the setter is at the back, they run quickly to the net after the serve. That is the setter run.

K2 means Complex 2. Now you serve. The other team builds its attack, and you have to defend the ball and hit it back:

Serve → Block → Dig → Set → Counter-attack

After the serve everyone switches to their specialist positions: at the front to the block, at the back into defence. If the setter is at the back, they defend at the back right and run to the net after the dig.

Now it all comes together. A match is a constant switch: if you win the point in K1, you rotate and serve. Then you are in K2. If the other team wins the point, you are back in K1.